Feature

Environmentalists are trying to blame the California wildfires on climate change. The real problem is that our forests have not been properly maintained for a long time. The U.S. Forest Service says there are 129 million standing dead trees in California, mostly killed by bark beetle infestation.

When an infected tree dies, the beetles fly to infect more trees. It is vital to quickly remove infected trees. This was normal policy for many years along with selected logging to thin over crowded forests.

Dead pine trees burn explosively, and stands of dead trees drive fires into major infernos, destroying entire forests. Overcrowded forests are unhealthy and greatly enhance the destructiveness of fire.

Environmentalists, using lawsuits, have fought any logging as an “alteration” of nature. Enviro-imposed policies have made the fires massively larger and almost impossible to control. Even Governor Brown has publically called for a return to thinning of forests by logging.  This is not “clear cutting,” but is instead, conservative, defensive harvesting.

The idea that the fires are due to climate change is a misleading, largely baseless claim. “Climate change” is a theory of unusual weather due to man-induced warming. The fact is, there has been no sustained or unusual temperature increase globally since 1998.  No warming = no unnatural climate change. The lack of warming disproves the climate model predictions. In real science, when observations defy predictions, the predictions are discarded. (Google: “globalwarming pause.”)

Most environmentalists often point to fossil-fuel belching automobiles as being the primary “drivers” (pun intended) of global warming, but NASA climate studies of global temperature show that any warming of the Earth’s atmosphere largely occurred long before the invention of the internal combustion engine. 

Likewise, many environmentalists also point to the current drought as evidence for climate change, but fail to mention that the very long term history of California is marked by repeated droughts, some lasting several hundred years.  Studies of tree rings, sediment, and other evidence have shown that in the year 840 there was a 240 year long drought only to be followed by a 180 year drought 50 years later. In more recent times we experienced droughts in 1841, 1864, 1924, 1928–1935, 1947–1950, 1959–1960, 1976–1977 and 2006–2010.

The fact is, California is and has always been, prone to drought periods, yet this reality seems to have escaped the attention of our current elected representatives. And as the state’s population increases (another elected representative miscalculation, aka “open borders”) sound water policies become increasingly important.

The period of modern habitation has actually been a relatively wet period, compared to the very long term. The high risk of future droughts should motivate us to demand a return to proper forest management and to build vital new water storage throughout California.

USFS  129 million dead trees   https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd566303.pdf

Truth be told, as an empty nester, I find it difficult to get into the holiday spirit without listening to my Harry Connick Jr. Christmas CD while sipping on a little eggnog Moscow Mule holiday liquid cheer, if you know what I mean. Unless you have small children in your home or a workshop full of elves, maybe a reindeer or two, the holiday spirit can be a bit hard to come by for us grown-ups.

Here is my Top 10 list of activities and outings to put yourself in the holiday spirit or drive yourself to the brink of Mistletoe Madness. It could go either way.

#10, Holiday Shows: Watching one of the thousands of holiday movies or television programs can really kick off the holiday season. Who doesn’t enjoy their 50^th viewing of Santa Clause is Coming to Town, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Little Drummer Boy, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Santa Clause (1, 2 & 3), The Polar Express, Home Alone, Bad Santa, Shrek the Halls, NBC’s Tree Lighting from Rockefeller Center and every cheesy holiday movie on the Hallmark Channel from November 1st through New Year’s Day? I especially enjoy stringing cranberries while I watch my holiday shows (NOT), but a little liquid cheer will add to the holiday spirit.

#9, Ice skating (outdoors): There isn’t enough peppermint fudge in this world to get me to ice skate at my age, I’ve got bills to pay and I don’t mean medical bills. I can’t afford to be laid up for a couple of months with a broken ankle or bruised glute muscle. However, going to an outdoor skating rink to watch other people fall down on the cement-hard ice is a lot of fun. The music, the merriment and the cool crisp air can set a joyful mood. Cups of warm cocoa or cider, with a little liquid cheer, will certainly add to the holiday spirit. 

#8, Caroling: Organizing a neighborhood caroling cavalcade is a dandy way to get into the spirit of the holiday. What’s a cavalcade? It’s a procession. Work with me people. It’s safe to say, we all know most of the words to every holiday song; Jingle Bells, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Deck the Halls, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Silent Night, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Oh Holy Night, Hells Bells (just kidding, that’s my favorite AC/DC song) and Joy to the World. Dress warm, wear sensible shoes and bring along a little liquid cheer to enliven theholiday spirit.

#7, Baking: Nothing says “holidays” more than a house wafting with the delightful odor coming from an oven full of homemade cookies, pumpkin bread, peppermint bark, fudge, biscotti, or a life-size Gingerbread House. It certainly helps mask the offensive odor coming from a backed-up bathroom following a toilet-clogging relative’s annual visit. If nothing else, invest in the new Febreze holiday baking scent. A little liquid cheer will undoubtedly add to the holiday spirit and baking creativity.

#6, Decorating (indoors): Deck the halls baby. I’m not saying that everyone’s indoor holiday decorating needs to be over the top, but how about getting in the spirit with a few twinkling lights and shiny ornaments on a tree or bush for starters? From there, do as little or as much as your heart desires. Personally, I like pasting copy paper scissor-cut icicles on the windows and dangling mistletoe over every arch or doorway, but that’s just me. I find that a little liquid cheer will add to the holiday spirit.

#5, Decorating (outdoors): Regardless if you live in a house, apartment, townhouse, condo, mobile home, or tent, deck the yard baby. Assuming you follow HOA guidelines, string your lights, arrange a nativity scene and plug in your blow-ups to create an outdoor winter wonderland. Electricity and ladders don’t always mix well with libations, trust me I know, so maybe wait until your Griswold Holiday Vacation light display is completed until you enjoy a little liquid cheer which will add to the holiday spirit.

If you really want to experiencea little light bulb envy, visit the Vista San Ramon sub-division in San Ramon (across from Central Park) or the house at 108 Dana Highlands Court in Danville (Woodranch Sub-division). I’m pretty sure Santa sees these two locations from 30,000 feet up when he’s dropping into the Bay Area on Christmas Eve. I also bet they get a really special holiday card from PG&E every year.

#4, Holiday Cards: Addressing and mailing your holiday cards to friends and family is another annual tradition. Due in large part to Shutterfly’s brilliant guilt- focused marketing campaign, personal photocards long ago overtook the popularity of traditional Hallmark card with a Thomas Kinkade image. Part of the holiday merriment is trying to coordinate an acceptable family photo even if your family simply consists of you and your turtle. Once you have that perfect Kodak moment image, complete with clever saying, “From our home to yours,” addressing the envelopes can take longer than the 12 days of Christmas. As for the envelope, I like to go with a seasonal postage stamp and the cutesy holiday return address stickers that come in every fundraising request envelope I’ve received the year before. A little liquid cheer will add to the holiday spirit and deaden the envelope licking aftertaste.

#3, Visiting Santa Claus: I haven’t sat on Santa’s lap sinceI was 7 or 8…teen, but if you really want to get in the spirit, plan a visit to Stoneridge Mall or Broadway Plaza to chat with the jolly, white bearded, present granter (or some reasonable likeness). Let’s assume, for argument sake, you’re taking your kids or grandkids, or someone’s kids—hopefully with their permission—to also get a photo with Kris Kringle. For only $99.99, you can get a complete picture set, ornament, and mug of someone either crying or screaming. Don’t laugh, it might be you. I don’t recommend that you add liquid cheer tothis event as a public intoxication charge or DUI could really dampen the holiday spirit for everyone.  

#2, White Elephant Gift Exchange: It doesn’t matter if it’s your office mates, friends, family, neighbors or cell block, a white elephant gift exchange is almost always fun and festive—that is, unless someone gives you an actual white elephant because those albino pachyderms can really trash your backyard. Having a theme to your gift exchange can add to the shenanigans, but let’s keep it PC for fear of offending the seasonal morality police. Liquidcheer is a wonderful theme because, as I like to say, “a little liquid cheer will add to the holiday spirit.”

And the Number One (#1) way toget into the holiday spirit is: Give: Give your time or money to the less fortunate; the sad, the lonely or the hurting. Be a friend, a helper or a listener. Donate to a food bank or Toys for Tots. Purchase a pre-packed bag of groceries at Safeway, or find a family in need through a school, church or community group. It is better to give than to receive and there are a lot of homeless or sheltered families with children who could use some assistance. Lending a helping hand in some meaningful way will make everyone’s holiday brighter—including your own—and add to the holiday spirit.

The holiday spirit is in all of us. It just takes a can opener or cork screw to bring it out of some of us. Hopefully, my TopTen List of ways to find your holiday spirit will help. If not, start with the liquid cheer, but in moderation, and don’t drive.

Good tidings to you and yours this holiday season. 

My wife Bonnie was waving an American flag and I had just removed my Fedora and was waving wildly at the cheering crowd below, surrounding Airforce One as we stepped out of the Boeing 707, with cameras flashing as photographers were jockeying to take our photographs. I had just won the election and become the seventy-fifth president of the United States. It almost felt real. Wait! Rewind the tape. This was just a day dream I had gotten lost in, looking down from Airforce One, as we exited the jet following our tour. This particular aircraft had flown seven U.S. presidents, all around the world, while in service.

President Nixon was the first. Then came Ford, Jimmy Carter, President Reagan, H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and finally George W. Bush.

The Boeing 707 was designated as Airforce One (when the President is onboard), and SAM 27000 (with no presidential occupant) and was accepted into the Air Force to shuttle U.S. presidents to and from their destinations, from 1972 to 1990. It flew President Reagan over 660,000 miles – to 26 foreign countries and 46 U.S. states. SAM 27000 was decommissioned in 2001, then disassembled over a period of several weeks, and subsequently transported in pieces to the partially completed Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. There, the aircraft was painstakingly reassembled in ten weeks, while the rest of the Airforce One Pavilion was being completed around it. Once completed, it was hoisted onto pedestals, secured, painted and polished over a period of five weeks to be ready for the formal opening of the Pavilion to the public on October 24, 2005.

So, no, I hadn’t won any election and there was no cheering crowd as my wife and I emerged from our interior tour, to be photographed by a professional photographer, who, by the way, instructed us on how to pose for our special picture. “Wave with your right hand and your wife, with her left hand,” she instructed us, “while she holds the American flag in her right.” However, with that old fedora on my head, I thought I looked very un-presidential, more like a dork having his picture taken.

“Do you mind,” I said, “if I wave my hat in my right hand, like I actually won the election?” “It’s your picture,” she replied. So, I did, and the rest is history. We then proceeded to stand in line, which at this time of day was still rather short, and we had a similar picture taken on the steps of Marine One, the presidential helicopter, operated by the Marine Corps. That picture came out great as well.

Before I go on any further, I had better explain where we were and how we got there. My daughter Christina, Teen for short, and her husband Doug, treated both sides of the family, that would be Doug’sparents Jim and Cile, and Bonnie and me, to a group outing to Santa Barbara. We stayed at a very nice little hotel, close to the hub of activity, with quite a nice,complimentary buffet breakfast. This was to be our base of operation as we were going to visit the Santa Barbara Mission and the shopping district, in addition to the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

To me, the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, was the special treat. I had been a fan of Reagan’s since his movie cowboy days. I had voted for him in the California gubernatorial elections, as well as both of his presidential runs. He had been my favorite president. He may also have been the very first U.S. president who truly understood the cancer that was threatening to take over the free world: Communism. President Reagan was looking forward to a future without a Communist threat and in his meetings with Premier Gorbachev, he felt that Communism was on its last leg.

Our destination, the Reagan Library, was but a skip and a hop from our Santa Barbara hotel; actually, about 63 miles. The final stretch being a long, winding two-lane road up the side of a mountain rising out of Simi valley, lined with banners depicting all the United States presidents from Washington to Trump, welcoming and guiding visitors to the top of this 900(or so)-foot mountain that the library sits on.

We got an early start and arrived in Simi Valley at about 10 AM. Along the winding road, there are several parking lots with signs indicating that a shuttle will pick you up, if you park in any one of them. We of course decided to try our luck and drive to the top to see what the parking situation was like. As it turned out, we had gotten there early enough so that there was still plenty of parking available. We got a spot just a couple of hundred feet from the entrance to the library and the life-sized, bronze statue of the man who became president, welcoming visitors with an outstretched right hand and holding his cowboy hat in the other.

As I mentioned, the Library sits on top of the hill and covers 29 acres of the three-hundred-acre site. From far away, it truly gives the illusion of Reagan’s Shining City on a Hill, especially at night. You can take a guided tour, a self-guided tour with earbuds that plug-in at every exhibit, or go on your own and follow your nose, from room to room, exhibit to exhibit, until you wind your way down to the Airforce One Pavilion over looking the valley.

We all decided to take the tour on our own, at our own pace, taking time to study as much of the exhibits as we were interested in. Bonnie and I sat in on several of the videos that were playing in the little theaters along the tour route. We sat in on some of President Reagan’s famous speeches, at his inaugurations, at some press conferences with world leaders, at his meetings with Gorbachev, and of course, his famous declaration at the Brandenburg Gate, when his words “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” generated such raucous ovation by the West-Berliners that it could be heard on the other side of the wall, even though the East Berlin security forces had been ordered to keep the East Berliners away from that spot. There is a life-sized scene of bronze statues of both President Reagan and Premier Gorbachev, depicting them at their Washington summit; well worth seeing.

We followed a narrow labyrinth depicting what the Berlin wall neighborhood would have looked like, before it was finally torn down. Of course, this isn’t the real deal. It’s just an exhibit made to look like the Berlin Wall. However, out front on the Ruwe Terrace, there is an actual four to five-foot-wide by about nine to ten-foot-high section of concrete, cut out of the actual Berlin Wall, with all the graffiti untouched. I saw it. I touched it. It looks much better here, as an exhibit then it did in Berlin, used as a means of separating families and friends, and controlled by machine-gun toting communist troops with trained guard dogs.

We took our time, and we listened and learned all about the life and accomplishments of the 40^th President of the United States, from his birth on February 6, 1911, his years as a lifeguard which began in 1926 at age 15, the years at Eureka College, from 1928, to his graduation in 1932. Soon after his graduation from college, Reagan became asports announcer on the radio until, in 1937 he went on a trip to Los Angeles, to cover the Chicago Cubs. Next thing he knew, he had been discovered by a talent agent and soon began making money in the movies; making them, that is. You might remember (if you’re old enough) the now famous line “Win one for the Gipper” that Reagan uttered in the movie Knute Rockne, All American, in 1940, about a young, dying football player’s last request to his team.

Of course, Bedtime for Bonzo is the 1951 movie that the opposition (Dems) liked to link Reagan to, while reminding folks that he was nothing more than an actor. How little those Dema really know, eh? Reagan made a number of what were considered B-Movies and several rather good Westerns, that my mother and I would go see, while we still lived in France, during our DISPLACED(title of my book) years.

You can not only learn about all his movies, but they are all (well, almost all) available on DVD, in the museum gift shop.

We slowly made our way through Reagan’s Actors Guild presidency, the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) Hearings on the Communists trying to take over Hollywood, in 1947 (It looks like it took them until the new millennium to succeed).

From 1953 to 1962, Ronald Reagan hosted the General Electric Theater. Did you know that, in 1964, Reagan took over hosting of Death Valley Days, from Stanley Andrews, who had been hosting the show since 1952? Reagan hosted the show until 1965. This was his last stint in show business as he plunged into politics, and in 1966, Ronald Reagan beat Pat Brown, you know, Jerry Brown’s daddy, in that year’s California gubernatorial election, in a landslide.

Following two terms as California governor, Reagan remained in politics. Finally, in 1980, he beat Jimmy Carter in a landslide and was sworn in as the 40^th President of the United States on January20, 1981. There is so much material, videos, photographs and mementoes, from his eight years as president that you need to go and explore for yourself. There were four summits with Gorbachev, his Peace Through Strength, RebuildingAmerica, the Reagan Ranch and Camp David, and of course, barely settled in, his near-death encounter with a gun-wielding young man.

John W. Hinkley Jr. was a deranged young man, who was born to a wealthy family. He became obsessed with Jodie Foster (the actress) and tried to get her attention by trying to assassinate President Reagan on March 30, 1981 in Washington, D.C. He managed to wound President Reagan when one of the bullets ricocheted and hit him in the chest. During his attack, Hinkley also managed to wound a police officer, a Secret Service agent while critically injuring President Reagan’sPress Secretary, James Brady, who unfortunately died from complications of his injuries, some 33 years later.

The final insult to all his victims came in 2016, when Hinkley was released from the mental institution that he had been transferred to, from prison, to live with his aging mother. Upon his release, the prosecutor stated, “I don’t think that anybody who tries to nullify a national election with a bullet should ever have been walking free, no matter what their mental state.” This whole story is told along with the gun Hinkley used, photographs, videos, and other items, all at this particular exhibit.

The Reagans spent a lot of their retirement years at Rancho del Cielo, or Ranch of the Sky, a 688-acre ranch located atop the Santa Ynez Mountain range north-west of Santa Barbara. While still in the employ of the United States taxpayers, the ranch was the vacation home for President and Nancy Reagan. Some special international visitors, such as Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Premier, were treated to Western living by being invited to the ranch. You will also see pictures of the eighty- year-old former president chopping wood and riding his horse on the ranch; just a more casual side of our former president.

Our next stop on our library tour was the full-sized reproduction of the Oval Office, from the days when President Reagan occupied the White House. It is furnished as it had been during the Reagan years. If you have never been to Washington D.C. and seen the Oval Office there, this one, at the Reagan Library looks just like it, and is easier to get to. In the exhibit next door, you’ll find photographs and other relics depicting life in and around Washington D.C.

If you think that everything at the Reagan Library is Republican in nature, you are mistaken. For instance, when we visited, there was on display, a huge collection of all the broches that President Clinton’s Secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, wore during all her years on the job. There are also photographs, video footage, and other mementoes of President Reagan’s friendly nemesis, the Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill. You can’t miss this exhibit as it occupies a good-size corner of the museum, and it’s on the way to the Airforce One Pavilion, where we were able to check out the various modes of transportation for President Reagan, by jet, limousines and Helicopter. This is also where we had our photographs taken on Airforce One and Marine One.

I never met Ronald Reagan in person, but after spending that day at the Reagan Library, I felt like I knew him as well as the guy who lives next door. So, whether you remember President Reagan with respect and even fondness, or you don’t, take the time to go down to Simi valley and visit this marvelous, nay, magnificent repository of historical information. As a matter of fact, take your junior high to high school age kids, and even younger, to let them experience history. They would probably learn more history in one day at the Reagan Library, then they would in a whole semester in school. Besides, they would get a chance to tour a presidential jet and helicopter and check out an F-14 Tomcat Fighter Jet, parked right outside the library.

After the museum, we took a stroll in the fabulous, lush garden surrounding it, where you’ll find a replica of the White House Rose Garden, the Gipper’s Grove and of course the jagged concrete slab from the Berlin Wall. We also paid our respects at the Memorial Site, where both President Reagan and the First lady, Nancy Reagan were laid to rest. 

Last, but not least, it would be remiss on my part if I failed to mention that we sat down for a sandwich and a beer at the Ronald Reagan Pub, looking out of the 70-plus-foot plate-glass front of the Airforce One pavilion, overlooking the valley. The Ronald Reagan Pub is an actual Irish pub from Ballyporeen, Ireland, where president Reagan stopped in for a pint, on a visit to Ireland. It was disassembled, shipped over and reassembled in the Airforce One pavilion where it serves sandwiches, snacks and cold, cold beer—after all that walking we did, that beer hit the spot. And,don’t you be worried none, they do serve soft-drinks for the wee lads and lassies.

Here is some additional information of interest: at the time of our visit, there was on loan, an enormous exhibit on the Titanic; you know, the ship that sank after hitting an iceberg. It was set up in a roomall its own and was fantastic but is no longer there. However, new exhibits are periodically brought in to replace the ones leaving. This year (2018) the exhibit happens to be about Pompeii, the city in Italy that was destroyed and buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a big, bad volcano, in AD 79, in the south of Italy, not very far from modern day Naples. This is something that Bonnie and I had to travel to Italy to see, but this year, you get to see it at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. One of these days, I might even write about our visit there. Just drive on down to the Reagan Library and explore history and you’ll get to see the Pompeii exhibit as well.

A trip to the Reagan Library would make a very nice Christmas present for someone who might be a history junky, like a dad or a grandpa, or old Uncle Joe…

For more information, go to reaganlibrary.gov.